Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 1:14 p.m.

Mena man gets 10 years in child-porn case

A 29-year-old Polk County man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges for exchanging child pornography online.

Chistopher Cottman of Mena was sentenced in federal court in Fort Smith on Thursday, U.S. Attorney Connor Eldridge said in a statement. His sentence will also include five years of supervised release after he is discharged from prison.

Cottman was arrested June 8, 2012, by deputies with the Polk County sheriff’s office on a state warrant after investigators determined Cottman had willingly exchanged images of child pornography with “a group of individuals on the Internet,” the U.S. attorney's office said. Multiple images and videos of child porn were also discovered on Cottman’s cellphone. At his sentencing, the government revealed one of the minors in the footage was 3 years old.

“This case is incomprehensible and extremely disturbing, especially in the light of the age of the youngest victim,” Eldridge said in a statement. “Every time a video or image involving sexual abuse of children is downloaded or viewed, these innocent children are re-victimized. Prosecuting these types of cases remains one of the highest priorities in our office, and we will continue to work to expose this type of abhorrent activity and bring these perpetrators to justice.”